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Tony Robbins: The Secret to Living is Giving | Big Think

Big Think | November 20, 2025



Tony Robbins: The Secret to Living is Giving
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The acclaimed self-help expert recently visited Big Think to discuss his new book and share stories about what wealth and generosity mean to him.
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TONY ROBBINS:

Tony Robbins is a life coach and bestselling author who has published five books in 14 languages. He is the creator of the #1 personal and professional development system of all time, Personal Power; more than 40 million audiotapes have been sold worldwide. His best-sellers include Unlimited Power (1987) and Awaken the Giant Within (1991). His latest is Money: Master the Game (2014).

Since fathering the life coaching industry, Robbins has produced the #1-selling audio coaching system of all time. He also is a corporate Vice Chairman, and Chairman overseeing five private companies. Robbins has been honored by Accenture as one of the “Top 50 Business Intellectuals in the World”; by Harvard Business Press as one of the “Top 200 Business Gurus”; by American Express as one of the “Top Six Business Leaders in the World” to coach its entrepreneurial clients; by Forbes as a Top 100 Celebrity; by Justice Byron White as one of the world’s “Outstanding Humanitarians”; and by the International Chamber of Commerce as one of the top 10 “Outstanding Young People of World.”

Robbins has met with, consulted, or advised international leaders including Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand, Princess Diana, and Mother Teresa. He has consulted members of two royal families, members of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marines and three U.S. Presidents, including Bill Clinton. Robbins has had the unique opportunity to identify patterns and model the underlying strategies generating consistent results for some of the most successful individuals in the world.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Tony Robbins: I think everybody wants to be a giver and not a taker. I mean if you take, take, take you might feel good about getting things for a moment or two but you can’t feel good about yourself as a human being. I mean I think one of the core messages of this book is you’ll never get beyond scarcity. You have to start beyond it. And what most people don’t know is you read statistics about money. Money is one of the most emotional topics that you’ll see with people. I mean it’s one of those things where you can get people charged up pretty quick. The subject is so emotional for people – they get so angry and it’s because money is just a vehicle. It’s just a tool. But it’s also a canvas. It’s a shape shifter. Whatever you project on it it becomes. If it’s evil, then you’ll have evil. It’s like money can create or destroy. It can destroy somebody’s life. If you’re mean you’ve got more to be mean with. If you’re caring you have more to be caring with. You can fund a hospital. You can support – keep somebody from starving. You can do some amazing things with this vehicle if you use it properly. It’s like electricity. You can light up a city or you can kill people. So everybody picks the part that they’re used to because in essence money in the end is power. And so if you feel like you don’t have it, everybody else does you’re mad. Rather than saying how do I become empowered.

When I was 11 years old we had no money and no food on Thanksgiving and a person came and fed my family. Now they didn’t deliver it personally. They sent it through somebody else. And to this day I don’t know who did it. But it changed my life. The food didn’t change my life, it was the fact that strangers cared that changed my life. That made me care about strangers. It shifted the direction of my life so I know the value of that. So I’ve been paying it forward since I was 17. I fed two families, then four, then eight. Then I built my little company and got my employees involved. And eventually started feeding a million a year, then two million. And over the last three or four years I’ve been matching my Foundation. My Foundation feeds two million people and I feed another two million on top of it, four million a year. But when I was writing this book I started seeing that last summer Congress passed new budget where they cut food stamps. They don’t call it food stamps anymore but they cut that support by 8.7 billion dollars. Two million people without support overnight….

Read the full transcript at https://bigthink.com/videos/tony-robbins-the-secret-to-living-is-giving

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Written by Big Think

Comments

This post currently has 46 comments.

  6. @Dogbreathe00

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    lol I can relate to T R,everybody I've ever helped out with cash,food,drinks or helped move or even give a ride to countless times.when I needed help or needed cash,not one friend would help me.

  9. @BrigitteBell

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    I love this story! I've had so many amazing moments like this happen to me as well. The secret to living is giving. I wish more people would understand this too, so that they could experience pure abundance too! 🙂

  10. @ajithprabhas7021

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    Its still surprise me just how some people don't know about Mofedest Miracle (just search it on google) even though I've heard several amazing things about it and my buddy finally understand the correct secrets laws of attraction with it, but she refuses to tell me 🙁

  11. @jassth7985

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    As specialist, I do believe Mofedest Miracle is actually good way to discover the complete secrets to happiness, health, and success. Why don't you give it a chance? perhaps it will work for you too.

  13. @KarlSterling

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    YouTube is a place where so many idiots hang out and make idiotic comments. It's all subjective, but REALLY, gang – how could you POSSIBLY give this a thumbs down? I mean – REALLY? WTF? The morons commenting on YouTube never cease to amaze me (or impress me )

  14. @stickems1992

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    My family abandoned me a few days ago, and I ended up spending 50$ buying food for a homeless family, gave away like 7 like smokes and went home and grabbed blankets and pillows and gave them to people who needed them. I eat oat meal almost every morning but at least I eat. there are people are there with Literally nothing! that was one the happiest days of my life. I felt like I had no one, and nothing, just like these people. In reality I have a job and little food, giving these people the little extra I had made me happier than any stupid product i bought. 

  18. @johannpresentsthecatrinabl1274

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    I gave and gave and then gave some more, and gave my knowledge, my effort, my sweat, my money, my time, my very life, and got ripped off, stolen, blamed, cast aside, laughed at, hated – by the very people who took and took and steal and steal and who OWN the country I live in, bloody HELL SINGAPORE land of DEMONS, who should give back something, the so called "ELITE" through ppl like Robbins is NOW TELLING US TO GIVE *MORE* TO THEM!

    Well, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! YOUUU!!!!

  19. @OmniphonProductions

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    In very broad terms, MOST of America's population is incredibly wealthy.  Unfortunately MOST also spend their energy resenting those who have more, rather than appreciating what they have, much less thinking of the billions in the world who will never know such wealth.

    Beyond that, the check he got in the mail the next day would have been sent before he gave the money to the kid.  Attribute meaning if it makes you feel good, but coincidence is just that.

  20. @ACOGgamingPS3

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    Thank you Tony Robbins for this inspirational message Ive felt the same as you did all those years ago and have blamed my problems on others and became angry inside and frustrated and stressed over family/noney and relationships problems. Truly thank you 

  21. @PJsharie

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    The moral of the story is giving and not expecting anything in return. You give because it makes you happy to see that other person happy. If the only reason you do nice things for others is too expect something in return, you're doing it wrong. 

  27. @absolutemotivationwomen

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    Put it this way. He was dirt poor and managed to get himself to financial freedom, either way you decide to look at it, if you think its fair or not he is ahead of most people. It is so easy to assume that all rich people are just thieves and ass holes, don't get me wrong there are some, but this book directly feeds people through a promotional scheme. Same principle as 50 cent a vitamin water. You can hide behind your computer and anonymity, pretending that you know better but its pointless. Chances are he has helped more people in his lifetime than either of you will.  I find that this channel is most reserved for people who preach open-mindedness yet are have the most closed minds of all the rest of the people. Shut up, show respect and listen. 

  34. @DocMohammed

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    Tell that to someone in a poor country in Africa or Asia who's starving to death. Motivational speakers usually relay on people's confirmation bias by telling some success stories and linking those stories to a previous act! How about the silent evidence! Many people have done similar acts (good deeds), but haven't gotten similar results.

  37. @Ch33no

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    Gods will. Some of the most wealthy people in the world (Bill Gates etc.) are trying to giveaway all of their money, and they just keep getting richer!  "Tenfold"

  39. @AbracadabraAtoZ

    November 20, 2025 at 5:50 am

    I know a dentist and his hygienist/ wife who are huge Tony devotees. They have scammed many patients out of tens of thousands of dollars, have falsified records to disparage their patient's character, photoshopped xrays, use photos of patients without their permission and refuse to take them down, and they won't think twice about putting their put patients' health at risk. The police work for them–they have four policemen in two squad cars intimidate their patients when they don't want to take care of them anymore. They exhibit no remorse or concern for their patients' well-being, but they have everyone fooled because they pretend to be caring Christians just like Tony.
    In reality they are just a morally bankrupt couple, who use Tony's Inner Circle for narcissistic supply. As long as they can sucker money out of "nice" people they can keep going to Tony's expensive f'ing seminars.

Comments are closed.

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